The 1975 have been banned from performing in Malaysia after frontman Matty Healy locked lips with bandmate Ross MacDonald during a performance in the country.
Matty’s group were headlining the Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur on Friday when Matty made a speech and staged his protest.
The singer, who recently dated Taylor Swift, said he had “made a mistake” by agreeing to perform the gig.
Matty kissed his male bandmate to protest Malaysia’s anti-LGBT+ laws, where homosexuality is illegal and punishable by 20 years in prison.
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The group’s set was cut short and the rest of the weekend-long festival was cancelled, while the band have also been banned from performing in Malaysia in future.
In video footage shared on social media, he tells festival-goers: “I made a mistake. When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it.
“I don’t see the f***** point… of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.”
Matty then kissed the band’s bassist Ross MacDonald before the band played the song I Like America & America Likes Me.
Soon after the stunt, the band announced their swift exit from the stage – as their performance was cut short.
Cutting short the set, Matty told festival-goers: “All right, we gotta go.
“We just got banned from Kuala Lumpur, I’ll see you later.”
A source close to the band told the Mirror: “Matty has a long-time record of advocating for the LGBTQ+ community and the band wanted to stand up for their LGBTQ+ fans and the community.”
Following the act of protest, the festival’s organisers said the group’s performance was stopped over “non-compliance with local performance guidelines”.
The rest of the festival was then cancelled, where The Strokes, who had been Sunday’s headline act, The Kid Laroi and Ty Dollar $ign were all scheduled to perform.
In a statement to local media on Friday, the Good Vibes Festival’s organisers said the performance was abruptly cancelled due to “non-compliance with local performance guidelines”. But said, at the time, the festival would continue as scheduled for the rest of the weekend. However, the schedule has since been cancelled.
Malaysia’s Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil called the band’s performance “very disrespectful”.